Wondering about Gordon's heater in this Winter weather?

Went out this morning at 34F when I left.  It actually runs really well at lower temps (after the usual coughing and puking for the first minute or so) and the heater worked  well, too - I was pleased.  

Mid-30F air in and it was warm coming out of the vents under the dash - Not hot, but warm.  I may adjust the fuel flow up a bit to make the output hotter, but I want to play with it for a few trips, first - it may be just fine, as-is and I don't want to make it too hot.  Remember, that the way this one is set up it is not a re-circulator.  It pulls air in from outside, just like a modern car heater on "flow-through" so it takes a bit more energy to heat air on the way through.

Found a nice air leak under the windshield right above the gauges - something to fix this Winter!

You can have toast cooked on that heater in the morning and don't forget coffee. 

I like the digital readout 

Ray I was thinking more like "pouch cooking" in pouches of aluminum foil on top of the output plenum, so I guess maybe an omelette might work well.  Wonder how many minutes I should plan for a cooked Omelette?  Where's Martha Stewart when you need her?

And the digital readout is two-fold: It shows what temp you've dialed in (in this case, 70F) and then shows the cabin temp just under the dash where the sensor is.   But mostly, I put it in there to piss off the Porsche Purists.........

Well Martha is out now so she should be available ...   The salt got sprayed everywhere so I can’t come over to help.  And btw Just living with a glass car offends some

It sure does....   I always get a kick out of getting really different looks from Porsche purists and from spectators whenever I go to "Porsche" shows.  Pearl's exhaust is a little loud when I start her up (OK, really loud compared to a stock original) and the purists first look down their noses and then turn away as if on purpose.  I then think, "Meh!" and rev her a couple of times.

The spectators, OTOH, hear it, wander over to get a closer look and all sprout BIG SEG's, especially the kids!

Here's to YOU, Porsche Purists:   

Gordon... I like your set up... have admired it since you started posting pictures/details some time back.   been really thinking about putting in one since I try to drive my car year around here in Seattle.  Last night I was reminded how cold it could get... even with the hard top.

Yesturday, during my commute to work I ran over a branch on the road, which went into my wheel wheel and punctured  the tubbing that brought heat from the exchangers to the cabin.   With an ambient temp in the sun of 41F... it was a cold commute home yesturday... 

A nice reliable heating system would be nice!

happy driving!

Mine pulls fresh air in from the outboard driver’s side of the nose, protected from the wheel and debris by the inner fender panel and a deflector panel I made for the bottom of the void.  The void is just to the outside of the “frunk” and has lots of protection.  All of the ducting is metal, although the tubes going from the plenum to the cockpit are aluminum and a tad soft compared to the steel tubes elsewhere, but they’re in the Frunk and everything is protected.  The duct tubes get warm to the touch - not hot.  I may crank up the heat output a bit to see how that seems, but it is nicely heating the car at low 30’s outside, even pushing warmed air through 4’ of tubing.   Sometimes it’s best to simply use something, rather than try to make it “better”.

My only gripe is that I have two heat outputs (speeds, if you will) and changing either of them is a big deal.  I’ll be looking for a different fuel pump pulse generator that is variable within the range I need and maybe use that.  THAT is how Jack Crosby can crank his heat output up and down using a dash knob.

BTW, I may have a line on a couple of used BN2 heaters in a few weeks.  Don’t know what shape they’re in yet, but am keeping an eye on them.  Might be a neat winter project to resurrect them and get them going, now that I have a proven method.  

I’ve recently been to Cory Drakes house and spotted Danny P’s old BN2 sitting on a shelf, waiting for installation in the Hoopty, so the warmth is spreading.  Danny went with a new Webasto in his new Spyder.  I think Jack Crosby has a Webasto, too, but I’m not sure of the make.  His has variable heat output and it can really drive him out if he turns it up over 25%.

I’ve seen some of those Webastos under $500 bucks new, but beware of cheap Chinese knockoffs - they’re probably as good as a lot of other questionable Chinese-origin parts we’ve all been seeing.......Go with a genuine Webasto or Eberspacher Airtronic to be safe if you’re going new.  These units are now called “parking heaters” and are HUGE in the trucking industry to heat sleeper cabs when parked, to reduce operational emissions over running the truck’s diesel engine for heat.  The new ones are being installed locally, usually by the same companies who service the refrigeration units and A/C in tractor trailers.  Very common heaters out there, with hundreds of thousands installed and safely working.

I'm fairly positive Jack Crosby has an Espar, which is one of the newer fangled Eberspacher units, fully electronically controlled.

Yes, I donated my heater to Cory Drake but I don't know how much it will help if he doesn't get a top going.

I went with recirculating the air inside the car on mine. There are enough air leaks with the Spyder top that plenty of fresh air makes it's way inside. Mine is the Webasto Airtronic D2. I got it for about $1000 from Poland. The electronic controls and the variable knob are really slick, the fixed output of the old BN-2 frustrated me because you were never "just right" like Goldilocks. And the compact size of the new ones is AWESOME! So small and fit well in unbelievably small areas.